3 wheelers in snow

[wolff]

Hey everyone. Pretty new around here but i like what i'm reading so far. I had a 2000 honda trx 250 few years back, liked it but wasn't impressed with the snow performance. I bought my 85 250r just this summer for $160. My question is, are 3 wheelers any better in the snow than 4 wheelers (given same tires). I hope so, and look forward to comments. Thanks.

[Vealmonkey]

Wolff, my own personal experience with 3 wheelers in the snow is my trike does better than my buddys rear wheel drive quads. The snow seems to want to pack up under the quads sometimes. If you look around you might get lucky, I know of at least one company that made snow skis for the front of atc's. The 4wd quads generally do pretty good in the snow, unless it gets so deep that neither one do any good.

[wolff]

Vealmonkey, that's what i suspected but wasn't sure. Years ago on the back of a big red it seemed me and a buddy got around pretty good in the snow. My atv was almost embarrising. Took lots of spinning to get up to any speed and god help me if i hit any depth at all. Hope the 250r does better. Thanks for the feedback.

[350Xhilaration]

I'd have to disagree.

There are so many quads around here that when we get snow, all the trails get "grooved" with two tracks. The trike front tire won't stay on top in the middle. It will drop into one of the sides made by the quads. You end up fighting the ruts anywhere you go.

In an open area where no ruts have been made, they are equal. 2WD quads and trikes will go about the same. I'd still have to say the quads go better because the front tires push a lot of the snow out of the way making it easier for the rears to get traction. The trike has to push three lines. After 6"-8" it doesnt matter anyway, neither will go well.

4X4's will go through anything up to 12"-18" without too much trouble.

Another thing to consider, as fun as it is riding in the snow, you'll be revving the snot out of your engine to get going and to keep the speed up. Tons of tire spin.

Here are a few pics of us riding a while back. Tons of fun, but I felt bad for the engine. It was screaming.

http://www.350xriders.com/350x/350x12.jpg

http://www.350xriders.com/350x/350x13.jpg

http://www.350xriders.com/350x/350x14.jpg

http://www.350xriders.com/350x/350x15.jpg

[bigredhead]

Nice pics !!!

Same here.. the front tire kinda splits the snow and piles it up for the rear tires to spin on.. slow going in the soft stuff.

But on HARD PACK !!!!! look out !.. Like fun in a can.... Once the snow starts to melt and then it gets cold,, with a few inches of thick crust trikes RULE !!!.. you float on top and can ride anywhere you want.. heavy quads break thru alot ( very dangerous at moderate to high speed on any vehicle.. )

I hate deep snow on my SX.. rev rev... you hve to wind it out to shift up thru the gears and as soon as you let off.. dead stop in no time.

Get MUFFS.. ( handlebar covers you slip your hands into... just as good as hand warming grips, and no power needed )

[Pistonhead]

I find that once I get over 1 1/2 feet of snow the trike stops going well. Thats when I put on my tire chains I made for the rear tires! The thing to watch out for in deep snow is not to get bogged down and lose speed and steering, you don't steer very well in the deep stuff so make adjustments accordingly. Under 1 foot of snow you can spin donuts off like nothing! Itf great!

[slow200s]

i have to agree 4x4 quads are best in snow out of atv's but if you pack a trail watch out you will be having fun! 4 inches of powder over frozen grownd is very very fun! you will figure out what your trike can do when the snow flys but until then its all talk.

alot of winters i end up pushing my trike while my thumb is on the throtle because i need to break a trail but if you start early with very little snow and beat a path then you will have the most luck.

[Tri-ZNate]

quads arnt as good in snow as trikes. Dirtydan's big bear 4x4 got buried in the snow next to me and we rode the trike back to get some help. I'll see if I cant find any old pics.

[bigredhead]

quads arnt as good in snow as trikes. Dirtydan's big bear 4x4 got buried in the snow next to me and we rode the trike back to get some help. I'll see if I cant find any old pics.


Only in certain specific conditions.

I don't agree with the trikes being better in snow.

[firehart]

I can hardly wait. I have never ridden in the snow on anything.


Wayne

85 200x all stock

[TeamGeek6]

My 250R wont go in the snow, mostly because of the low profile racing tires, the front tire causes a lot of drag the rears cant overcome. But its a wild ride on ice if the rears are studded with a couple hundred sheet metal screws! My Avitar picture is ice riding on a frozen lake.

[mx600]

my $.02

I think snow is the best place for 3wheelers..well hardtails at least. Growing up we had a YTM200 and it got most of the its use in the winter. But like some guys are saying too much snow and it won't go. Also the revving factor, make sure to keep enough oil in the engine and give it periodic cool down periods if you're revving a lot and not going fast enough for the engine to get enough air flow for cooling.

I'm pretty excited about this winter because I'm back into 3wheelers with my 200s. I also bought an old snowmobile and plan on packing down some trails for the 3 wheeler with it. Anyone ever do that?

Here are some winter pics. The first is about 12-15 years ago on our '84 YTM200. The rest are my brother from last winter on my BW80, jumping the snow bank I plowed up. Some of my best memories are playing in the snow with him.

[wolff]

Wow, great pics. Almost makes me wish winter would hurry up. Looking forward to trying the 250r in the snow. Thanks for the advice too. Pistonhead, maybe i should look into some chains. 250sxwheeliepop, looking forward to the pics if you find them. Later all.

[Wickedfinger]

If the object is to get from point A to B, then the choice is clear - anything 4x4 will be the "best" in snow. It depends on your definition of "best" though. In my experience, I will concour that hardtail trikes are the most fun and functional in any snow that a 2wd ATV could go through. I have a few reasons for this but the main one is that you don't notice the lack of suspension as much in the snow, which makes them alot "funner". Also, I think ridgid (rear) suspensions corner and slide better (look at FT and TT). To me trikes have a fundemental advantage of having a front, center tire to push down the snow, making it easier for the machine to achieve forward motion. The "push down", especially from a wide balloon tire, keeps snow from hanging up the trike. Tires are another issue. The low profile, light tread tires found on most sport ATV's are only going to hamper traction - couple that with a higher horsepower engine and you have to work to have fun, which is NO fun. My '00 Scrambler 400 2x4 is a classic example. I have over 50 highly modded hp and Holeshot XT's on beadlocks on the rear. When the "big" snow came last winter, I was always in the back of the pack, struggling with traction (and shes an automatic). Another time, years ago, I couldn't wait to take my "new" Blaster out in the first snow of the year. When I did, I found out quickly about its limitations. I headed back home and swapped her out for my trusty old '84 ATC200S and racked up the snow road miles. Some of the old timers on here might remember the epic "Snow/Ice Storm" story I posted a few years back involving that old S. Anyway, you bolt on a set of cheap Ching Chang mud tires to an ATC200S and take her out into 4" -8" of loose snow, and you are going to have a ball all day. The only limitation I see in some hardtails is their lack of torque. I love my ATC125M and ALT125D to death - but take them out in anything more than 4" of snow, and they cant overcome my weight.

[BigGreenMachine]

When you wander off the trail and get in the powder your usually screwed. I've had my Tecate in about 2 feet of soft powder and it was useless even with the 22x13 wide Spidertracs simply because they would spin too much and not bite like John just said.

[wolff]

From what i'm hearing i may have some problems. I have the racing tires and my trikes not a hard tail. Can't do anything about the hardtail part but maybe should get snow tires or chains on the ones i got, or both. Guess i won't really know till winter gets here. Can't wait to find out.

[wolff]

Thanks for feedback. Can't wait till winter and see how it turns out. :)

[oddball3]

My brother-in-laws 84 200x with the super swampers on it, was great in the snow, even in the deep snow lean back and the front tire would float on top and the rear tires just dug in and kept moving, not fast but it did keep moving.

[Wickedfinger]

From what i'm hearing i may have some problems. I have the racing tires and my trikes not a hard tail. Can't do anything about the hardtail part but maybe should get snow tires or chains on the ones i got, or both. Guess i won't really know till winter gets here. Can't wait to find out.
Wolff, please don't take my comments the wrong way - BY ALL MEANS TAKE THAT R OUT IN THE SNOW!!!!!. I find it the most rewarding kind of riding there is. I would just buy a cheap set of steel rims with $29 Cheng Shin "Wooley" copies and mount them in the winter thats all. You just need to find some traction.

[Dammit!]

Best trike riding in the snow I ever did was on my old 200x with the stock tires. It was better suited to it than the 2-strokes just due to the more mellow powerband. The smokers were either bogging or spinning while I was chugging right through everything on the X.

Here's how'd rate the trikes I've ridden in the snow, from best to worst. Some people will disagree but the best was the 200x with stock tires, 2nd best was a stock 250sx, 3rd was a 1981 110, 4th was my 250r, 5th was a 85 1/2 tri-z.

[Kintore]

Dammits right, When I took my Z out in the snow I was either spinning or bogging except for ice. I was donuting and powersliding for almost 3 hours one day in my field. Im planning on studding my tires this winter and show some 400ex's up on the ice. But from what ive seen, studding is the only way to go if you want to acctually go anywhere on the ice. I had terrible tire spin, through all gears I could spin. I would go in 2nd go down on throttle and jump up and down on the pegs :Bounce . Then maybe in a few seconds I would slowly move. My buddy on a foreman 350 acctualy hit me on ice once, he was coming towards me and I could not get any traction to get out of the powersliding area so I stuck on my arm, grabed his racks so we didnt colid and we slide till a stop(with no damage to the Z ;) )
For deep stuff I used a four stroke.I much prefered the winter before with my old trusty 200 before I blew it up. This winter is going to be a blast, really a blast when I get my digi cam so I can take millions of pics! :eek:

Have fun!

[max]

You Have A Triange And A Square. The Triangle Is Going To Push Through The Snow Easier. On A Three Wheeler Your Only Pushing One Tire, And The Track That The Front Tire Makes Packs Down The Snow So It Doesnt Get All Caught Up In The Rear Carrier And Swing Arm, Which In Deep Snow Is One Object That Really Holds You Up On A Quad. I Agree With Xhilaration On The Quad Trail, Cause Your Front Tire Wont Stay In The Middle. But Out In The Open I Definately Would Have To Say Most Three Wheelers Are Going To Have An Advantage In The Snow Against Any 2wd Fourwheeler. We Get Alot Of Snow Here In Ohio. Ive Ridden Various Models, Quads And 3wheelrs In The Snow. I Can Definately Carry The Most Speed & Control With A Trike. Max

[TimSr]

In low traction conditions trikes way outperform 2WD quads. Sure 4WD goes best (duh) but when comparing rear wheel drives with equal tires its no contest. Mega-rutted areas might be a different story, but on ungrooved terrain trikes rule, and the little crappy 110's and 125's work the best. The old YT125 I had was the ultimate deep snow plow with stock Cheng Shin knobbies on it. You shift you weight to the back, and the front end didnt even sink!

We ran two harescarmbles at Sunset Ramblers last winter. One was totally iced up track, and one was total mud. The trikes rules the day and even some of the 4WD were getting stuck in the same lines we were getting through.

Two years ago I ran a winter harescramble at Big Game Raceway in Hubbard, OH. There was about 12" of snow on the ground. The 4WD's were getting through, and my TriZ was getting through with my 22" All Trax. Everybody else had a lot more trouble. Many of them were running studded tires, and I even remember passing a 400EX that was running chains on his tires.

I dont subscribe to most of the "trikes are always better" notions, but in the case of mud and snow, I will pick the trike over the 2WD quad without hesitation.

For he all time worst in the snow, Ill pick the Yamaha Banshee.

[westcoast TRI-Z]

Riding in the snow was the only time the little red light on the tri-z ever turned on. But it was a blast, not to mention the time we tied to sleds togethter with rope and hooked it to the grab bar...............ah good times :beer

[Pistonhead]

Wow, great pics. Almost makes me wish winter would hurry up. Looking forward to trying the 250r in the snow. Thanks for the advice too. Pistonhead, maybe i should look into some chains. 250sxwheeliepop, looking forward to the pics if you find them. Later all.

The chains are great man! The way I built mine I have 2 pieces, I can simply unbolt one bit of chain and I chain up the trike no problem (I have pictures of my big red with chains on it from way back in the day hauling a whole moose through LOTS of snow) and then my second piece allows me to make the chains longer, so I can chain up my truck with the same set! I find tires make a big difference when not running with chains, my 82 has real good grip radials on the back, but my 83 has just regular knobbies on it, and the knobbies do not give super great traction in snow, but the chains fit on knobby tires well.

[threewheelin-feelin]

well i rode a 200s and a 220 bayou in the snow acouple years ago....the 200s was alot better i had alot more fun on 200s.....i dont know what was wrong with that bayou but it wasint very fun.....i cant wait to try out my 350x this winter

[wolff]

Don't worry Wickedfinger, i'll be taking the R out. Couldn't keep me from doing it now after all the great stories and comments i just read. :D Thanks all.

[Tri-ZNate]

http://3wheelerworldforums.com/showthread.php?t=30214

There are some pics of me doing some roosts, back when the sx was partially black (wheeliepop quivers).

[Wickedfinger]

MAX, don't you find it exhausting having to capitalize the first letter in EVERY word ...........

[trikezilla]

wow...you got an 85 R for $160?? Trikes are great in snow. I dont know of many area that recieve more snow than I do. Granted a lot is fluff, but we get plenty of wet and hard pack too. My 125m is pretty fun in it as long as its not deep. My R is a blast in the snow and I have never had a problem even though its not a hard tail. To me..the awesome powerslides are a blast until you whip it around to far and rool her and bust off the new brake levers that have been on maybe 15 minutes lol.

Like others have said..the 4 stroke power band is better suited to snow. I guess I have to love riding in snow as it seems like its on the ground 6 months a year lol

[straight pipe]

my fondest memory of snow riding was last year early winter befoer i mounted the lites on the rear, still had the stock rubber. i was riding with 2 4x4's one 500 foreman and a 500 artic cat. we were riding on a frozen stream and it froze perfectly smooth and there was 4" of fluffy snow resting on top...maaaan was that fun going in 4th, cutting the steering and whipping donuts till i slowed....meeeeeemmmoriiiies. but the lites are way better in snow than the stockers that is forsure....

[ATC crazy]

I have owned both...an '87 SX and now I have an '02 Foreman 450s.

The trike compared to a 2wd quad...the trike will go much farther any day.

The trike compared to a 4wd quad...the quad will walk all over the trike.

Now, with the stock tires on the Foreman, it was pretty much useless in the snow after the tires were wore past 50%-60%. Now that I have aftermarket tires on it, I can go almost everywhere in 2wd that my buddy can on his trike (my old SX). If not, I just flip the 4x4 switch and hang on :D

I havent had a chance to test it out in anything over 12", but last year we got a foot of snow, so I rode it 3 miles up the road (steep hills) to my friends house to ride around in his field. She never missed a beat.

[RedRider_AK]

The 110 was a blast to drive in the winter, back when it worked... lots of tire spin, screaming engine, sliding everywhere... awesome.

[willcamach]

after reading all of this i am so sad :( i lived on the eastcoast my whole life and never got into atv's till i moved 3 years ago to socal. now i have 2 trikes and will probably never ever get a chance to ride in the snow or ice.... well at least i have plenty of dunes to ride.

[69HemiGTX]

From my experience, the only thing that sucks about a three wheeler in the snow is when you turn the front tire. All the snow being kicked up lands on your feet, and I don't need to explain that any further. I have ridden an 84 200X and an 85 TRX250 in about 10" of powder, and the 200X was a lot more fun. You couldn't really get the TRX to rev because it has such low gear ratios. Couple that with an auto clutch, and you have to keep your speed up to go anywhere. The 200X was a blast! High-speed donuts are a lot of fun, especially because you are travelling backwards at one point during the rotation. I have pictures back home of me throwing snow roost while spinning around backwards. I wish I had them here to show y'all.

[250rAL]

There are way too many variables to say which is better(3 or 4) in the snow. There are many different kinds of snow, different depths, tires, machine weight, rider weight, whether the snow is fresh or a week old, whether you are on dirt or ice...

[edog]

Last winter was a blast on my 225.The ITP Mudlites i have on them are excellent in the snow.

[toyvette81]

never ridden my x in the snow but i cant waite, i hope we get some snow. sometimes we do sometimes we dont, we'll get a record 24" 1 year, and go 3 yrs. with barley any snow. we did have a ice storm 2 ys ago that knocked power out for 3 weeks though. but my 89 polaris trailboss went through that 24" like it wasn't there, it was amazing the hills i went up etc... some of em i dont think i could have gotten up with no snow, it may have helped me being that deep and soft

[toyvette81]

hey straight pipe be careful on that frozen stream lol. i fell right through 1 on my polaris quad lol, talkin about cold and stuck. and dad fell in years ago and his wheeler kept breaking the ice on the way down the stream/river, it went about 1/4 mile lol... upsidedown that ice wasnt fit to ride on (he didint check 1st) lol its funny now thou. but he almost died for real b/c he was in the water so long trying to get a hold of the bank, ice cicles on his mustach..... man it was bad but the old man rode home on his wheeler being towed